Refrigerator cabinet



May 11, 1943.

Inventor: Leonard W. Atchison,

L. w. ATCHISON .REFRIGERATOR CABINET Filed Dec. 17, 1941.

His Attorn ey- F., for example.

Patented May 11, 1943 UNITED STATES PATENT oFFiCE REFRIGERATOR CABINET f 1 Leonard W. iitchison, Schenectady, N. Y., assignor to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York Application December- 11, 1941, Serial No. 423,347

3 Claims.

My invention relates to refrigerator cabinets' The air within the refrigerated compartment of a household refrigerator is usually maintained at a temperature of approximately 40 F. to 45 F. for general refrigeration purposes. This temperature is maintained by convection currents of air set up by the coolingunit or evaporator usually disposed in the upper portion of the refrigerated compartment. 'In order to obtain the aforemen tioned temperature it is necessary, in the conventional type of refrigerating system; to maintain the surface of the evaporator or cooling unit considerably below freezing, as approximately nitude in moist air, the evaporator becomes covered by iceand frost. It has been customary to defrost the cooling" unit when necessary as by halting operation of the refrigerating system until the temperature within the refrigeratedcompartment rises sumciently to melt the ice and -frost or by operating the evaporator on a comparatively long defrosting cycle.

It is an object of my invention to provide new and improved means for assisting in the disposal of watePresulting from such melting and any particles of ice or frost which may drop from the cooling unit.

Closed containers have been used in household refrigerators for maintaining a relatively high humidity in order to prevent dehydration of certain foods, such as vegetables. Frequently such receptacles are placed adjacent the bottom wall of the food storage compartment. It will be obvious that only a limited circulation of air can take place around the receptacle placed in When the evaporator is. operated ata temperature of this order of mag- I For a better understanding of my invention, reference may be had to the accompanying drawing in which Fig, 1 is a perspective view of a portion of a. refrigerator cabinet of the household type illustrating an application of the principles of my invention and Fig. 2 is an enlarged partial view, in section, of a portion'of the cabinet shown in Fig. 1.

In the drawing I have illustrated a refrigerator cabinet l0 including suitable thermally insulated walls defining a food storage compartment Ii.

In order to provide access to the compartment,

there is provided an opening l2 and a suitable thermally insulated door I; for closing the opening. In order to provide refrigeration for 'the interior of the compartment I have illustrated the use of an evaporator or cooling unit l4 preferably disposed in the upper portion or region of thecompartment ll. Inasmuch as the details of the primary refrigerant system form no part of my present invention, the details thereof are not illustrated. Of course, any suitable refrigerant circulating apparatus may be employed. I

In order to provide supplementary cooling for a portion or region of the compartment H, I have illustrated the use of a secondary system com prising a conduit l5 provided with a plurality of turns to form a cooling portion l6 suitably secured in heat exchange relationship as by soldering, for example, to a portion of the metallic inner liner. of the cabinet, as-the bottom wall for example. The container or conduit I 5 is partially filled with a vaporizable liquid refrigerant so that the turns of the portion l6 are maintained flooded therewith. During the refrigerating cycle, liquid in the coolingportion will bevaporized and the vapor willrise through the upright portion of the conduit l5. In order to condense the vaporized refrigerant, I have provided the conduit Id at the upper end thereof with a plurality otturns to provide a condensing portion l8 diswith-the primary system evaporator.

Further objects and advantages of my invention will become apparent as the following description proceeds an'd'the features of novelty which characterize my invention will be pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this specification. I

posed adjacent to and below the evaporator H of. the primary refrigerating system. In the portion l8, the refrigerant vapor will be cooled by the heat exchange with the primary system and will become liquefied, the liquid returning to-the lower portion of the conduit.

In order to prevent the drip of liquid, ice, or

the like, from the evaporator ll to the articles of food stored in the food storage compartment II, I have provided drip-receiving means, as a drip tray l9 below the evaporator l4. While I haveillustrated the drip means or receiver 19 as extending substantially the full width and depth of the food storage compartment, will be oband not fall onto the articles stored in the cabinet. In the form of my invention illustrated therein, the drip receiver I! is provided with an' upstanding fiange is extending around the marginal edge in order to provide a sumciently deep receptacle to contain all of the water incident to defrosting. L

In order to remove the water, etc. received in the receiver I9, I have provided a plurality of openings 2l'adjacent the rear edge of the drip receiver l9 and have tilted the drip receiver so that liquid contained therein will drain to the rear of the receiver II. A removable receptacle 2! is suitably and removably supported below the openings 2| as by means of lugs 23 and studs 24. The member 22 may be removed and emptied whenever it is filled. If desired, the drip receiver I! may be provided with conduits 25 communicating between the openings II and the re- While I have shown and described my invention as applied to a specific refrigerator construction, other modifications will readily be apparent to those skilled in the art. I do not therefore desire my invention to be limited to the specific arrangement shown and described, and I intend in the appended claims to cover all modifications within the spirit and scope of my invention.

- and adjacent to said element for receiving moisceptacle 22 in order to insure that the liquid will be conducted to the receiver 22.

The receiver I I tends to assume a relatively I low temperature because of its proximity to the cooling unit or evaporator ll, especially during defrosting periods when the'ice on the cooling unit melts into the receptacle. As a result, air

engaging the under surface of the receptacle I may be cooled below the dew point of the air in the storage compartment and,ftherefore, moisture condenses on the under-side of the receiver. This condensation may drip onto the articles stored into the refrigerator. In order to provide sufilcient heat to maintain the surface above the dew point of the air, I form the receiver of rela-- tively good heat conductive material and dispose the condensing portion of the secondary system in good heat exchange relationship with the drip receiver Because of the heat suppliedto the receiver by the condensing vapor, the temperature thereof will be maintained above the dew point of the compartment air.under normal conditions ,of operation.

Modifications of my arrangement will beat!- parent to those skilledin the art. For instance,

. the condensing portion ll may be so formed, as by means of complementary metal sheets providing refrigerant circulating passages therebeture and ice from said element, said means being terial, said condensing portion being disposed in heat exchange relation with said means, and means for removing any accumulated ice or liquid from said means.

2. In arefrigerating cabinet comprising a food storage compartment, a primary refrigerating system including a cooling element located in one region of said compartment, and a secondary refrigerating system including a cooling portion for'cooling another region of said compartment, and a condensing portion, means disposed below and adjacent to said element for receiving moisture and ice from said element, said means being formed of a relatively good heat conductive material, said condensing portion being disposed in heat exchange relation with said means, addi-.

' tional removable means for receiving said drip water or ice from said first-mentioned means, said first-mentioned means being arranged to 40- direct the drip water or ice towards said remov- 45 region of said compartment, and a secondary refrigerating system including a cooling portion tween, as to serve the dual function of condensing the secondary refrigerant and also to receive the drip from the primary evaporator II.

for cooling another region of said compartment, and a condensing portion, said condensing portion being disposed below and adjacent said cooling element,' said condensing portion also being arranged to receive any drip water or ice falling from said element, and means for removing any drip water or ice from said condensing portion.

. LEONARD W. ATCHIBON.

formed of a relatively good heat conductive ma 

